A love between Stripes and Scales
by Taygai
Summary: This story draws upon after the events of episode 25 in the anime.
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own any rights to Toradora!, its characters or storylines. I am not earning any profits off of this fanfic. This is also mainly based off of the anime and some of it may sound familiar as some of it draws back directly to it. It is currently in-progress and I will update as time see's fit.

**WARNING:** I apologize in advance. Toradora! is also known for having a comedy aspect to it and thats not one of my strong suits. So this fanfic is based upon a Romance/Drama aspect. There are comedy moments thrown in sporadically, but it may not appeal to everyone. I will still try to stay true to the original feel of it.

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><p><strong><span>Prologue<span>**

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><p><em>You know Ryuji, my whole life, I never thought anyone was really going to love me.<em>

_I was probably just running away, cause I was scared._

"Thats weird, no stars out. Oh, theres one. You're all tiny and helpless, like me. Say cheese."

_I blamed my loneliness on my parents, and how they raised me, but you loved me for who I am, didn't you Ryuji? Thats why I'm not gonna run away more. I'm gonna_ change,_ I'll accept who I am, and learn to be proud of myself, so I can love you, Ryuji._

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><p>As Taiga walked by Ryuji's apartment with her case and her bags around her shoulder's, she did her best to not drop a tear. She took a big breath, stood up straight, and walked past while taking a quick glance down the alley of his apartment. As she walked to the train station every moment when Ryuji stood out, stood up for her, or even did something nice to her flashed back.<p>

She thought of the time he helped her when the pool opened with the breast pads and the time he helped her learn to swim to compete in the athletic festival. The time of the culture festival where he made the most beautiful dress for her in the pageant and afterwards when he ran as fast as he could through the Mr. Lucky Man competition to win, just to crown her and prove she wasn't alone. And the time during the ski trip where he risked his life to save her in the brisk cold blizzard.

She knew no matter what, he was the one for her. He always looked out for her best interest, even if meant he had to be a little stern at times. She thought back to the situation when her father tried to rekindle their relationship before his business went under and how he was very forceful . She then quickly forced that thought out of her head since it brought no good memories.

The train jerked back in forth, signaling to Taiga it was starting to leave. She then remembered how it did the same thing when they went to Ami's beach house with Ryuji, Ami, Kitamura, and Minori. She also- she paused for a moment in this thought. When she started to elope with Ryuji.

Tears started running down her cheeks to her chin, dripping onto her pearl white coat. She had tried her best to not cry, but at this point she couldn't hold it back. She let it go. She covered her eyes with her hands, doing her best to hold it back, while at the same time sobbing her heart out. Every time she thought about holding it back, it only made it worse, producing more tears than she did before and her cries became louder. When she soon realized this, she wiped her eyes and cheeks with her hands. She knew she had to pull it together. For Ryuji and, herself.

She picked her head back up, and turned towards the carriage window. Looking to the empty night sky having it remind her why she was doing this.

"Don't worry Ryuji, I'll come back. I promise," she whispered to herself, "And when I do, I'll be able to truly love you, Ryuji."

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><p><strong>~ To be continued<strong>

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><p>Hey guys, thanks for reading the prologue. I know half of it is something we're all familiar with, but I wanted to bring it up again. It's an important part of the story. I hope you guys will understand.<p>

I'm going to try and produce the first chapter. Its about halfway done at this point, but I still want to proofread it and read it myself a few times to make sure I have everything I want in it.

I want to make it clear that I will never try to make a time table for the chapters I will publish, but I will do my best. I prefer quality over something rushed. I hope the readers will understand. I'm sorry in advance if the wait is longer than some others.

With all this said, I'll try to have chapter one ready in the next couple of days, **no promises though**.


	2. Reuniting the Tiger and Dragon

**Chapter 1: Reuniting the Tiger and Dragon**

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><p>As the metal locker door jarred open, Ryuji looked down. He saw a blonde curly haired girl, about four foot and nine inches, maybe she was four foot and ten now?<p>

"Yeah what?" blushed Taiga looking into his eyes, "I'm in here because I wanted to surprise you."

With a light chuckle Ryuji replied, "Is it me or have you gotten taller?"

"Its gotta be you, cause I haven't grown a single millimetre. Same old story."

"You know what?" Ryuji started to ask soon followed by Taiga's questioned look, "I love you."

Taiga's cheeks grew a dark pink, almost starting to sob as she was bending her head down.

Ryuji looking confused, "Now wha-"

Taiga cut him off into a headbutt straight into his face, "What are you saying embarrassing stuff like that for! Y-You're supposed to, I don't know, You're supposed to like, wait for the right mood!"

Ryuji cupping his mouth with his right hand, and his nose with his left hand trying to soothe the painful what felt like an iron bucket he just received to his face. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds. Ryuji knew she wasn't going to break the silence so he did himself lowering his hands from his face, "I'm sorry, I know I've always had bad timing, but I felt this was perfect. Seeing as we haven't, you know, seen each other for a year now," as he finished with a slightly embarrassed look.

"Yeah well," as she started to growl at him, but stopping herself. She relaxed her body from her previous tense state and wrapped her arms around his waist. Pulling him closer to her, he realized what she was doing and lifted his arms and put his right arm around her back and his left around her head and pulled her closer as well. Both hugging and squeezing each other with all their intimate strength. "You know Ryuji, I've waited this whole time. A whole year, just to have this feeling again, and now, I don't know what to do with myself other than stand here and hold you," Taiga said as they held each other.

Ryuji relaxed his arms. Taiga held tighter refusing to let go. Ryuji let a light chuckle out and picked her up from under her arms while Taiga let go of him at that point. He then sat her down on a desk behind him. He began to put his left hand under her chin and lifted her head towards his. He was still taller than her while she was on the desk, but at least she didn't have to stand on the tip of her toes.

She knew what was coming, so she lifted her arms and put her hands on the back of his neck and head. Pulling him closer, they soon locked together. Without stopping like the last time they kissed when they were eloping. They were frozen in time, locked lips, not a muscle moved.

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><p>"Yeah I'll be studying abroad in America," said Kitamura.<p>

"Oh, I see. You're chasing after Kano, aren't you?" asked Kawashima sarcastically.

"I, no...I'll be studying medicinal science"

"Wasn't that what Kano went to study?" Noto asked.

"No, she had ambitions to be an astronaut," Kitamura replied.

"Hey Kushieda, is everything ok?" asked Kitamura with concern.

Minori for the past few minutes has been staring up at the school building. The others were interested in what she was looking at as well at this point, so they all tilted their head in the direction hers was.

"Wait a minute, isn't that Takasu?" Kitamura asked. They all nodded again in approval, with a couple "Yeah's" thrown in. Minori knew why he was up there, and who was up there. She knew it wasn't just him either.

"Lets go see what he's doing up there," suggested Haruta.

They all nodded in agreement. They headed inside from the school yard, putting on their Uwabaki's first from their lockers. Kitamura led the way up to classroom 2-C where Takasu was. As they were going up the stairs Kawashima had an idea of why he was up there, but she was positive Taiga wasn't supposed to be back, yet.

As the group was approaching class 2-C Kawashima whispered in Kitamura's ear. Kitamura nodded as if he was approving of whatever she had whispered to him. When they approached the room Kitamura stopped and signaled the others to wait a moment. He inched the door open slowly and crept inside. After doing so, he made room for the others to enter and waved his hand to them silently asking them to come in while holding his index finger to his lips signaling them to be quiet.

As they flowed into the room they all knew what was going on at this point. Most of them were having a hard time believing what they were seeing. They sat there watching them kiss for a good few minutes. Astounded that neither of them were moving. Haruta broke the silence with a slight cough, but with the sound of the room being limited to the air conditioning buzzing in the room, it was enough to startle everyone.

The couple stopped kissing and both of them looked over at the noise. Taiga's face instantly turned into a dark pink as well as Ryuji's.

"How long have you guys been standing there?" asked Ryuji as he was pulling on his tuft of hair.

"Long enough I'd say, if Haruta didn't break this awkward silence I would've been concerned you guys had been put under a spell," replied Kawashima.

"A spell of _Looove!_" exclaimed Minori.

"Minorin!" Taiga screamed in excitement.

Taiga hopped off the desk nearly jerking Ryuji's head off as she whipped her legs around the opposite side of the desk to run to the door. Minori in the process was running to her as well. Both of them meeting halfway both held a hug with each other, far more intense than the one she shared with Ryuji. Similar to a bear hug they squeezed each other so hard Taiga's face went from a dark pink to a purple.

Takasu noticed this and rushed over to pry Minori's grip on Taiga, "Kushieda, you should probably let her go," he requested.

Minori looked down at Taiga & opened her eyes from the blind bear hug she was giving to Taiga. She noticed Taiga was starting to look an odd colored purple, she let go. Scratching her head and apologizing as Taiga was gasping for air.

"When did you get her Taiga," Minori asked in an exciting yet confused tone. "I don't remember seeing you or anyone with a black uniform walk in."

"I've only been here for about thirty some minutes, maybe more," Taiga replied.

"So what school did you transfer to Taiga?" Haruta asked as he pointed at her black uniform.

"Eh, some christian academy my mom made me go to," Taiga replied.

"You never told us why you left," commented Kihara.

Taiga didn't respond this time. Everyone stared at Taiga, waiting for a response.

Kitamura broke the silence, "Hey, why don't we get something to eat. How's about, Johnnys?"

They all nodded in agreement and started to head out the door. The couple were the last two out the door.

"First one to johnny's is a rotten tofu burger," Minori said challenging the others as she raced down the hallway and down the stairs.

The others soon followed racing after her giggling and commenting on her cheating, saying she started the race with no warning.

Taiga soon started running after them, soon losing her slipper as Takasu was shutting the door to 2-C. Takasu noticed this, walking up beside her and kneeling down, "Here get on," he suggested.

She smiled, bent over to grab her slippers in her hands and hopped on his back, reaching around his collar to clasp her hands with her slippers still in them. He stood up and raced after the others.

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><p><strong>~ To be continued<strong>

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><p>Hey guys, thanks for reading the first chapter. I would've had it out sooner, but as I stated in the prologue, I wanted it to be how I wanted. It was too short at first and then I found out it crossed into chapter 2's story. I sat here pondering most of today if this is how I really wanted it. What this means is that chapter 2 might take a little longer than I imagined.<p>

As always I'll try to have it out as soon as possible and I hope you guys enjoy where its going so far. Again, apologies. This chapter had some info we already knew from the original story. I tried my best to pick up on it and added as many little details as possible.

Feel free to review what you like and don't like about it so far.


	3. The Tigers Concern

**Chapter 2: The Tigers Concern**

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><p>As Ryuji approached the Uwabki lockers, he kneeled down letting Taiga slide off his back onto her feet. He stood back up holding his left knee up as he slipped off his Uwabaki and did the same for the right foot after putting his left down. Repeating the process again to slip on his shoes. Taiga on the other hand, standing beside him up against the lockers holding her slippers still in hand, Ryuji figured she wanted to ride on his back again.<p>

Knowing this he bent down again, expecting her to hop on in excitement, but nothing happened. Not even a sound. He looked up at her, she was zoning off he thought. She just stared at her feet, only moving to inhale and exhale the warm air.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked.

She broke out of her trance, looking at him giving him that cute smile she always does when she's trying to hide something, "Nothing, I'm fine. Hey, we need to go to your apartment," as she hopped on his back again.

He stood up struggling to ask, "What for?"

She wrapped her arms around his collar again, with slippers in hand locking them together, "I dropped my case off at your apartment before I came here. What? You didn't think I came with what I'm wearing, did you?"

"No, of course not. Did you pack your bags full of frilly clothes like last time," he asked as he started taking off in a light jog.

She kicked him with her heel, as such he wasn't sure if this was a giddy up or kicking him because of his question.

After he was jogging for about five or so minutes Ryuji slowed down to a slower than normal walking pace, trying to catch his breath.

"You know for a dog, you can run for a while with a lot of weight on your back," she commented in a sarcastic tone.

"Thankfully I'm only able to carry you for so long like that because you're so short and light," he fired back.

She gave a small giggle. "Hey, give me your phone," she demanded.

He reached into his pocket, handing the phone to her hands near his neck, she dropped a slipper with him catching it just in time.

"What are you doing exactly," he asked.

She started pressing buttons on his phone. Hearing multiple clicks, far too many to be a phone number. He knew she wasn't calling anyone. He started to question whether she was texting someone or not. After a few more clicks she put the phone up to his ear and said, "Here, tell them we'll be running a bit late."

He listened to the phone ring three times and it finally clicked, "Hey Takasu, where are you guys? We're almost at the restaurant and we haven't seen you guys since we were at the school."

It sounded like Kitamura, but there was so much chatter and giggling going on the background he couldn't be sure.

"Takasu, hello? Are you there Takasu?" The voice asked again.

Taiga angled the phone at her face, "Yeah, we're coming. We need to stop at Ryuji's place first. We'll be there slightly late."

"Ok, we'll see you guys then. Don't be too late," as they heard some giggles in the background and sarcastic suggestions from Noto and Haruta.

She hung up and snapped the phone shut. Grasping him harder with her left hand, dropped his phone into his right pocket.

"Hey, why are we stopping at my place first," Ryuji asked.

"We need to get changed, or at least I do. I've been in this uniform for about twelve hours now," she answered.

As they continued walking through town, neither one of them said anything for the longest time. The silence wasn't broken until they reached the alley for his apartment.

"So who lives in that apartment now," she asked.

"You mean yours, or um, your old one?"

"No yours!" she replied sarcastically, "Of course my old one, you dumb mutt!"

He chuckled a bit, "I'm not sure. The curtains were never changed and I haven't seen them open, not once."

She let out a slight "mmm." When they reached the top of the staircase to Ryuji's apartment he opened the door and turned around, walking in backwards, bent down. Waiting there for a moment for Taiga to hop off. He was confused, she hadn't moved. "Hey Taiga, are you gonn-" interrupted as she reeled back, Ryuji losing his balance trying to grab the door to regain it, but failing as they fell to the ground. Taiga's back hit the ground soon having Ryuji follow her lead.

"Taiga! Are you ok? Taiga! Taiga!" Ryuji screamed in concern as he pulled himself up and turning around.

"Yeah I'm ok, mutt, why'd you fall on me?" she replied rubbing her nose.

"What do you mean why! You pulled me back with you, I did my best to hold my balance."

"Come here," she demanded as she grabbed the top of his uniform pulling him into her.

"Wha-" interrupted as she kept pulling him straight into her lips, they locked into a kiss. Passionate, much more passionate than the one they shared at the school. They continued to move too, she grasped the back of his head with her other hand. He enjoyed this kiss, but he didn't want to make the others wait as well. They were already behind and coming to his apartment was going to make them even more late. He lowered himself to his knees and shins, reaching under her with both arms picking her up. She repositioned her arm which had been holding his uniform and threw it over his shoulder. Standing up while holding her up still maintaining their passionate kiss.

Walking to his room, she kept stroking her hands through his hair, their faces danced together. As they approached his room, he peeked his eyes open budging his door up with his foot and gave it a good push with the back of his hand. He reached where his desk and chair was and sat her down on his chair. After which he broke the kiss, she grabbed his head putting all of her strength into her arms doing her best to force the kiss to continue.

"Taiga, we need to do what we came here to do. The oth-" he was interrupted as she achieved her goal forcing the kiss to continue, Ryuji enjoyed it for a few moments. After realizing they were still not accomplishing their goal he broke it again. This time he stood up after having kneeled to sit her down.

"Taiga, we seriously need to get ready. I-I'm sorry, as much as I would love to continue this, it would be rude to make our friends wait."

She groaned quietly, but also loud enough for him to hear.

"Get changed quickly. Where did you put your belongings anyways?" he asked as he looked around his room, then searching the living room.

She stood up, opened up the sliding glass door. She disappeared from sight for a moment and then reappeared with tan case, similar to the one she used when they were eloping.

"Ok, you can get changed in here, I'll change in the living room," he suggested as he exited his room with a shirt and pants around his forearm. He slid the screen door shut.

After a few moments he finished changing, "Taiga, are you finished?" No immediate response. He knocked on the screen, "Taiga?" He heard a little shuffle of noise, but it was only for a moment. He waited a few seconds before trying to make contact through the screen again. He gave in and inched the door open, just peeking inside. She was sitting on the chair, but in her change of clothes. She had what looked like a photo in her hand. "Taiga, are you ready to go," he asked as he finished stepping through the room.

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah. S-Sorry," as she set the photo down on his desk. "Hey Ryuji," she started with a concerned tone.

"Yeah?"

"Have you thought about our future at all? Like, where we'll be next year, or in the next decade?"

"I, uh. Well, I've thought about where we'll be next year. Now that you mention it, I haven't thought too much about the next decade."

She gave a quiet groan, dropping her head lower than it already was.

"But, I know wherever we'll be, it'll be together," he responded to her motion.

She raised her head, turning her head slightly to him. "Ok, lets go!" As she rushed out of the chair jumping onto him and then pushing off into the living room.

"Owww," scratching his head where the door hinges had probably put a lump. "Hey, you have shoes right?"

"Oh right! I almost forgot," she responded almost pushing right through him again, just as he was getting up. Noticing this he just barely dodged it as she raced to her case. Pulling out her red shoes and raced back out.

"Oh Taiga," he whispered to himself, shaking his head.

As they headed out the door, he noticed that was the second time she had spaced out since she came back. This time though, she was concerned about their future. He had thought about her every single day she was gone. He imagined what their lives might be like. He knew they were going to get married, soon he hoped, but he remembered they both agreed to have everyones blessings from both families. The next decade though, he hadn't put much deep thought into it. He knew it was going to be with her, by her side. Maybe they would have children, maybe they would professionally successful. He had no idea exactly where they would be, but he knew who he would be with. Her.

Taiga grabbed his hand, interlocking her fingers with his. She strode with a small skip, which was enough to keep up with his jog.

"You know, I have been thinking about our future. I just want to take this one step at a time. My promise to marry you is still a promise I plan to keep, but we both know we can't just yet," Ryuji said while looking down at her.

"I know," she looked back up with a smile. "We better hurry, the others are probably getting tired of waiting."

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><p><strong>~ To be continued<strong>

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><p>This chapter came alot sooner than I imagined, but the inspiration kept coming. So I went with it. I've read over it a few times and its more of a filler chapter, but I wanted this part to be well represented. Hopefully some of you caught its meaning and I'm sure it'll stand out much later.<p>

Everything is coming along nicely though. With this week being christmas week as well as new years the week after, chapter 3 may be a bit longer wait than the last two.

As always, no promises or time table for the next chapter, but I'll do my best to get it out as quickly as possible in the condition I want.


	4. Friends and Futures

**Chapter 3: Friends and Futures**

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><p>As they arrived at the restaurant Ryuji held the door open for Taiga, as she walked in, she gave him a good poke in the stomach with her finger, "Thanks mutt," she said. Taiga approached the counter, waiting for a hostess to arrive, soon Ryuji approached behind her as he scanned the tables looking for their friends. His eyes reached a corner booth as Kitamura was waving his hand and smiling at them. Ryuji tapped Taiga on her shoulder, bent down a bit and pointed to the corner booth. As they approached the table Noto and Haruta sat up moving to a different seat. Ryuji understood they were making room for Ryuji and Taiga, and so the couple took advantage of it and sat down.<p>

"So what took you two looove birds so long," Minori asked sarcastically.

"Sorry Minorin, I had a hard time finding my case and then this mutt distracted me," Taiga responded as she pointed to Ryuji. At the same time everyone turned their heads to Ryuji as if expecting a comment as well.

"Ah, what! Yeah, sorry guys. I-I-" Ryuji started to respond soon interrupted by Noto.

"Hey Taiga, you wanna tell us why you left in the first place?"

Taiga's giggling paused, her head dropped from her previously excited stage. She stared into her lap for few seconds, before raising her head again. She had a serious look on her face, not angry, but serious. As if she was determined. It also felt neutral as well.

"I had a lot of things I needed to do, before Ryuji and I could-" She paused. Everyone's expressions changed from an interested to a confused one.

"Taiga, it's okay. You don't need to tell them. I can if you want," Ryuji comforted her.

"No, it's okay. I need to tell them. They're my friends, they deserve to know," she responded. "I had things I needed to do, before I could love Ryuji, truly. I've loved Ryuji for a long time now, but I felt like we could never be together truly, until I accepted myself."

Everyone stopped, almost as if the entire restaurant was cold, quiet and empty except for Taiga.

"Ryuji and I, w-we agreed to get married before I left," Taiga finished.

The restaurant then felt as it resumed it's previous state of clinging utensils on plates and bowls.

"W-WAIT! You two got married?" Haruta, almost screaming as some of the guests in the restaurant turned to him with a scowl on their faces

"No, we didn't. And could you keep it quiet," Ryuji scolded.

"We agreed to get married, but we didn't actually get married," Taiga said as her eyes couldn't move from her lap, "I finally learned to accept myself and so I came back. And now that I'm back, we can get married."

Everyone at their table was nodding their heads, almost as in approval, even though it wasn't needed, it felt nice. Ryuji looked down at Taiga to his side, reaching over to grab her hand from her lap. She looked up at him in, with a tear or two rolling down her cheeks. He reached over with both arms pulling her closer. While all of this was going on, the others were deep in conversation, what seemed to be discussing their wedding.

"Yeah I'm leaving in four months. So we should definitely have it underway before then," Kitamura said.

"Alright, we can do that," Ami replied. "Okay then, well I have to be out of town for a couple of weeks for a modeling contract. When I come back we'll start the real planning process. In the mean time, Taiga, you need to start looking at dresses, and Ryuji, you need to start looking into finances for this."

They both nodded their heads in approval, Taiga seemed hesitant, but she still felt confident in the nod. Ryuji knew why too. It was the dress. She was always careful about her, beauty. It was hard for her to find it, she always needed help, but the confidence was different. Maybe it was the fact that they were getting married that gave it to her.

"Okay guys, well I need to get going. My train leaves in an hour and I still need to run home and get my bags," Ami said as she started to get up. As she exited the booth and headed for the exit in the restaurant, Minori rushed up to follow her. This had everyones attention. Everyone knew in this last year that Ami and Minori didn't exactly get along, but these moments happened, and nobody knew why. Ami and Minoris conversation carried on for a couple minutes, followed by Ami scoffing at Minori and acting as if something she said pissed her off. This wasn't unusual, but still, for once, Ryuji had hoped they might get along one day.

"So Taiga, where are you staying?" Minori asked as she returned to the table.

"Ryujis place," she replied.

Everyone again, just froze. At this point Taiga and Ryuji felt like they were controlling time with their comments, with the exception of the clinking utensils

in the background.

"Yeah, I already spoke to Yasu about it. She said it was okay," she finished.

Ryuji already knew this, he assumed so at least. I mean, why else would her case be at his apartment rather than somewhere else? He wasn't sure about the idea of living with Taiga, or actually, the idea of sleeping in the same home as her. They had always spent a lot of time together, but sleeping in the same home as her. It was an idea that hadn't really crossed his mind. There was something Taiga didn't know, and Ryuji was going to have to tell her when they arrived back at the apartment. If he told her here, it might really startle some. He just wasn't sure how to say it.

As time went on in the restaurant, friends left after awhile, leaving only Taiga, Ryuji and Minori. Kitamura had left to handle some last time student council business, while Noto and Haruta had left, shouting about some party as they exited. Kihara and Kashii had commented about a new department store opening in the area.

"So, what are you guys doing tonight?" Minori started to ask, "Surely your first night back Taiga can't be just to sit at home all bored and stuff?"

"Yeah, that was the plan. I was hoping to just relax quietly for the next couple of days. It's been really loud and uncomfortable with my mom. With her husband and her new baby, it was hard to just sit and enjoy the quiet," Taiga replied.

Both Minori and Ryuji were just staring at Taiga. Taiga was known to be the loud one. The fact she had learned to value being quiet and calm, was, they couldn't think of a word to describe it. They were speechless.

"Well, I'm going to celebrate my time with my team. I was going to invite you guys, but I can understand. We should do something next week though. With no school, I'll have the next week or two free until they find time for me to start working days."

The couple nodded as Minori stood up from the booth, they soon followed. As the three exited the restaurant, Minori gave a cheerful wave as she departed in the opposite direction of the couple. After about fifteen minutes Taiga and Ryuji arrived at his apartment. As they walked inside, Taiga pushed Ryuji out of the way shouting, "YASU! I'm home!"

Suddenly she stopped at the doorway into the living room. The light was on, but there was no one there. She dashed into Yasukos room, nothing, the light was off. She turned to Ryuji as he was entering his room, "Ryuji, where is she?"

"Oh right, I forgot to mention, Yasuko changed her shift, or she begged for it more like it. She works until eight now."

"At night?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, well good for her!"

"Yeah, so with that said we ha-" interrupted as he was tackled by Taiga. He was thankful he opened the door to his room, or he for sure would be missing one now.

"What was that for?"

"This tiger wants to play. You're gonna play with this Tiger, or else."

Ryuji was shocked, Taiga in his mind, had always been playful, but this was childish playful. He didn't turn the idea away, in fact, he welcomed it. He can't remember the last time he just, played. "Ok then, little tiger, lets...play!" He picked her up off of him switching positions. Starting to tickle her on her sides, she was giggling in such a cute fashion, he reached down to peck her on her lips. She stopped giggling for a second, and soon his hands and fingers stopped moving.

"Ryuji..."

"Taiga"

She kicked him back over her head with her leg, soon she was on top of him, doing the same to him he was to her. He wasn't giggling as hard as she was, in fact, he was barely laughing at all. She recognized this, moving her hands to his legs, maybe, she thought he wasn't ticklish there. Soon he started to laugh a bit, almost as if he was holding it back. She recognized this as well, her fingers moving faster now, he couldn't hold it back. He let out a laugh, it was non stop at this point.

"Say uncle! Uncle! Say it!"

"No, I-I, won't, you, you can't," he was having a hard time saying anything while laughing.

She reached down to peck him on the lips, her fingers stopped at this point, stopping right in front of his lips. "Say, uncle. Now."

She sounded so serious, almost as if he didn't say it, he was going to lose her, right then.

"Taiga, there's something I need to tell you," he started.

She pecked him on the lips, soon releasing, with a confused look on her face.

"With Yasuko's shift, she got a raise. And with school being over for me, I have a new job starting."

"Wait, what happened to the bakery?"

"Oh that? I still help during the busy seasons, but that's it. Anyways, with my new job, Yasuko decided she wants to move closer to my grandparents and try to repair their relationship, and my new job at the market is close to this apartment."

"Just tell me Ryuji! God."

"Yasuko is moving out of this apartment, and I'm keeping it. So, it'll be just you and me."

He was expecting Taiga to be confused, or mad. She started to smile, it was a cheerful smile.

"Well then, that just means more time for you and me then, doesn't it?"

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><p>Hey guys, I finished chapter three finally. I had a ton of inspiration today, so I finally got around to finishing it &amp; correcting mistakes in it. I haven't read it as much as the others, so things may fall out of order it feels, but overall I felt like it came together nicely. It's somewhat more of a filler chapter, but I wanted to draw a lot of details that define future arcs. This chapter alone defines more than four, or ignites them, so to speak.<p>

I'll try to have chapter four ready in the next 10 or so days. It'll be a different taste than these last three.

I also changed the title. I noticed after I started writing someone had already used Toradora! After High school title, and it seems someone else adopted the name as well after I started mine. So to avoid confusion, I'll be changing mine. It felt a bit generic anyways.

A love between Stripes and Scales

* * *

><p><span><strong>Tiny Spoiler for ch4<strong> ~ The relationship between Ryuji, Ami, and Taiga, _goes from a spark into a blaze._


	5. Chapter 4 - Update

**Hey guys,**

I know I'm super late on this update, especially for chapter 4. Theres a few problems at hand producing the chapter.

The **first** being the story line. I'm having a hard time tying it into the arc itself, but it's not connecting. To tie into the first problem, is the **second**, inspiration. I'm having trouble tying these story lines together because even after watching the series multiple times consecutively, watching nothing else, inspiration is problem.

The **third** one is time. I'm having a problem designating time for writing. I'm still very alive and still wanting to finish this story, but I'm having trouble tying these together. I'll be able to get it done, but when. I don't know. As always, I produce no time line.

Hopefully you guys understand. I'll try to have it as soon as possible in the best shape I see fit.


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